NYR wants Novak.

 Could Novak be dealt to the Rangers. 

Now we are nearly only a week away from this years NHL trade deadline and rumors are really picking up, so over the next week I am going to do a couple of smaller blog posts talking about certain players and a place I could see them go, and what a trade might sort of look like and does it make sense for both sides, and today I am doing a quick hit on Novak possibly heading to NYR.

So now this sort of a deal seems a lot less likely to occur then say a week ago as Nashville was on the outside looking in and now they have a 6 point lead for the last playoff spot in the West, but this team if filled with really good Pending UFA's such as Barrie, Carrier, Novak and Trenin not to mention Saros who is also a trade candidate but has one more year left on his contract, but over the past year and a half Novak has been a really good player as they called him up from the AHL last year and he was brilliant putting up 17 goals and 43 points in 51 games, and this year he has suffered some injuries but is still having a great year putting up 12 goals and 32 points in 49 games and looks quite good, now he is a pending UFA and only makes $.800 Thousand dollars on the Cap so for a lot of cap strapped teams looking for help down the middle, adding Novak would be fantastic especially with the way he has scored, but the Predators have come out and said they would love to keep him and even though he is a UFA he is on the younger side and has shown to work well in Nashville, so a trade offer would have to blow them away to move him, but I do think it it still possible he gets moved.

Now from the Rangers perspective they desperately need another Center, now early on in the year they had a solid 3 Center group with Zibanejad, Trocheck and Chytil but then Chytil went down with a concussion and will miss the rest of the year, now the Rangers seem to want to add another Center who can work as the teams 3C for this years playoff run and that is where Novak comes in as they were interested in Monahan and Lindholm before they were dealt to add to their Center depth and now there is talk that they may be interested in Wennberg, Henrique or Laughton as a Center add but they have scouted some Predators games recently and although he may not be as big of a upgrade as one of those other guys, Novak is cheaper and the acquisition cost may be easier for the Rangers to pull off, so it will be interesting to see exactly how much interest the Rangers have in a guy like Novak.

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Now as for a potential deal, as I said the Preds may move Novak even though they would much rather keep him and the Rangers are in the market for some Center help, so I can definitely see a deal coming together and I do think a trade would look something like the Rangers  moving their 26 3RD pick, one of their good young prospects but not their best ones in Berard, Robertson or Korczak and maybe another lower end draft pick like a 4th or 5th I think would get a deal done for the Rangers to get Novak and although it may not be the best move for the Rangers to do, I think it would be a smart move by NYR to add Novak.

So we will have to wait and see if the Rangers do end up making a deal like this for Novak or if the Predators wind up not moving Novak at all, but I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments on if you think a deal like this may take place and don't forget to stay tuned for more blog posts soon to come.